At 11:37 AM 1/29/2005 +0000, you wrote:
>I'm sorry, but maybe I am missing something here. You indicate that
>IAL is 'much more expensive' than AB3.0. GW's online store
>(notorious for vicious markup) seems to be pricing this software at
>30 dollars per bundle. That's ten dollars cheaper than the newest
>incarnation of AB. Sure, you have to buy two 30 dollar bundles to
>play _everything_ available...but by my math, this still means that
>you could be playing AN army for 10 bucks less than AB.
The general value argument stems from the fact that most 40K players play
multiple armies, which would entail a 50% higher expense than AB. In
addition, AB's generic design can support all the other games that a large
percentage of people play.
>Which would be quite an improvement over me sitting with my thumb up
>my arse, unable to use AB3.0 for either my WH or my DG armies. Sure,
>its my own fault for not reading every piece of literature available
>before shelling out the cash for AB3.0.
At the top of the webpage during online purchase where you are asked to
confirm acceptance of all the legal crap, the following text is found:
"IMPORTANT! Prior to completing your purchase, make sure that all the
necessary data files both exist and suit your needs for each game system
with which you intend to use Army Builder. You can readily use Army Builder
in Demo mode to confirm all functionality."
The details on data file availability are also posted in a variety of other
places on the site, but the above referenced page MUST be gone through to
complete the order.
Where else would you recommend that we put the above warning and/or how
else would you like us to display it so that it actually gets read? I
honestly would like to hear your ideas so that no one else gets confused by
things.
>I may use AB3.0 sometime in the
>future, but truth be told, if I could get refunded my 40 bucks, I
>would go that route.
Again, have you considered reading the terms you agreed to when you
purchased AB? It's on the same page that contained the warning mentioned
above. It says quite plainly that you CAN obtain a refund within 60 days of
purcahse if you aren't satisfied with the product. So all you need to do is
send an email to us at either support@wolflair.com or sales@wolflair.com
that requests said refund and provides your order number.
>I assume that the product is fully functional right off of the
>shelf.
Army Builder IS fully functional right off the shelf. The data files,
however, are SEPARATE from the product itself. This fact is clearly stated
during the online ordering process.
Army Builder and the data files are a lot like Excel and some of the
various commercial worksheets that can be purchased for use with Excel.
Like Excel, Army Builder is a generic engine, and it IS a complete product.
The data files are like specific "worksheets" for particular game systems.
For most gamers, both the engine and the necessary data files are needed
for AB to truly be useful. That's why we include the warnings during the
online ordering process to make sure that users are aware of this.
>One that someone
>actually bothered to write the files for before the damned thing was
>released.
The 40K data files are highly complex, so they can't just be thrown
together in an afternoon. The people working on the 40K files started
working on them well before AB was released. And they have to coordinate
their efforts to ensure that all the different army lists integrate
smoothly together, else the resulting files would be a mess to use. At this
point in time, my understanding is that more than half of the codices are
supported, and the files are continually being evolved.
>Sorry if I sound bitter, but hell...thanks for that IAL link.
>Made my trip to this forum worthwhile.
Based on all the feedback we've received from the majority of gamers (and
store retailers) out there, you'll probably be back to using AB in the
not-to-distant future. Apparently, it took GW seven months to release a
patch to the data files for IAL, and there are still a slew of bugs in
their files. AB data files are much easier to update and DON'T require that
we also release a new version of the product just to fix data file issues.
So the turn-around time is much faster. While the initial time needed to
get all the codices in place is longer than we had hoped, users will
ultimately benefit greatly by the architectural model used by AB that
allows the data files to be readily updated independently of the product
itself.
-Rob
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rob Bowes (rob@wolflair.com) (650) 588-8252
Lone Wolf Development www.wolflair.com
>I'm sorry, but maybe I am missing something here. You indicate that
>IAL is 'much more expensive' than AB3.0. GW's online store
>(notorious for vicious markup) seems to be pricing this software at
>30 dollars per bundle. That's ten dollars cheaper than the newest
>incarnation of AB. Sure, you have to buy two 30 dollar bundles to
>play _everything_ available...but by my math, this still means that
>you could be playing AN army for 10 bucks less than AB.
The general value argument stems from the fact that most 40K players play
multiple armies, which would entail a 50% higher expense than AB. In
addition, AB's generic design can support all the other games that a large
percentage of people play.
>Which would be quite an improvement over me sitting with my thumb up
>my arse, unable to use AB3.0 for either my WH or my DG armies. Sure,
>its my own fault for not reading every piece of literature available
>before shelling out the cash for AB3.0.
At the top of the webpage during online purchase where you are asked to
confirm acceptance of all the legal crap, the following text is found:
"IMPORTANT! Prior to completing your purchase, make sure that all the
necessary data files both exist and suit your needs for each game system
with which you intend to use Army Builder. You can readily use Army Builder
in Demo mode to confirm all functionality."
The details on data file availability are also posted in a variety of other
places on the site, but the above referenced page MUST be gone through to
complete the order.
Where else would you recommend that we put the above warning and/or how
else would you like us to display it so that it actually gets read? I
honestly would like to hear your ideas so that no one else gets confused by
things.
>I may use AB3.0 sometime in the
>future, but truth be told, if I could get refunded my 40 bucks, I
>would go that route.
Again, have you considered reading the terms you agreed to when you
purchased AB? It's on the same page that contained the warning mentioned
above. It says quite plainly that you CAN obtain a refund within 60 days of
purcahse if you aren't satisfied with the product. So all you need to do is
send an email to us at either support@wolflair.com or sales@wolflair.com
that requests said refund and provides your order number.
>I assume that the product is fully functional right off of the
>shelf.
Army Builder IS fully functional right off the shelf. The data files,
however, are SEPARATE from the product itself. This fact is clearly stated
during the online ordering process.
Army Builder and the data files are a lot like Excel and some of the
various commercial worksheets that can be purchased for use with Excel.
Like Excel, Army Builder is a generic engine, and it IS a complete product.
The data files are like specific "worksheets" for particular game systems.
For most gamers, both the engine and the necessary data files are needed
for AB to truly be useful. That's why we include the warnings during the
online ordering process to make sure that users are aware of this.
>One that someone
>actually bothered to write the files for before the damned thing was
>released.
The 40K data files are highly complex, so they can't just be thrown
together in an afternoon. The people working on the 40K files started
working on them well before AB was released. And they have to coordinate
their efforts to ensure that all the different army lists integrate
smoothly together, else the resulting files would be a mess to use. At this
point in time, my understanding is that more than half of the codices are
supported, and the files are continually being evolved.
>Sorry if I sound bitter, but hell...thanks for that IAL link.

>Made my trip to this forum worthwhile.
Based on all the feedback we've received from the majority of gamers (and
store retailers) out there, you'll probably be back to using AB in the
not-to-distant future. Apparently, it took GW seven months to release a
patch to the data files for IAL, and there are still a slew of bugs in
their files. AB data files are much easier to update and DON'T require that
we also release a new version of the product just to fix data file issues.
So the turn-around time is much faster. While the initial time needed to
get all the codices in place is longer than we had hoped, users will
ultimately benefit greatly by the architectural model used by AB that
allows the data files to be readily updated independently of the product
itself.
-Rob
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rob Bowes (rob@wolflair.com) (650) 588-8252
Lone Wolf Development www.wolflair.com